FINAL CALL

NOTES FROM A TRIP WELL DONE

The plane has left the runway. We've now flown back, fallen into a way too rigorous work schedule and still wake up forgetting where we are as we look for the cappuccino struggling to get the barista to understand what zucchero and crema mean.
It's always a good thing to do a recap after a big vacation to remind
yourself of what you want to remember and then what you need to remember but know you'll forget on your next adventure if you don't write it down.

Things like how to pack. When I got home I restuffed my drawers with the seven t-shirts I never wore and the eight pairs of socks I never unfolded although they did help to keep my shoes from losing their shape in my suitcase.

Speaking of shoes, I learned the importance of a comfortable pair and how hard I am on them. My favorite travel shoes lived a good life and died in the service of my feet's salvation with holes in the soles and liners that gave out halfway through Barcelona. On the last day I kissed them good-bye and left them under the bed in Lisbon. I couldn't bear to put them in the trash. I had to leave the burial to someone else.

I realized that after two weeks on the road underwear can stand the two-day test and the same goes for showering.

We now know to remember to expect the unexpected. We fell in love with Bilbao and that was unexpected. We only went to see the Guggenheim. I had assumed that Bilbao was going to be an industrial town and a one trick pony ... so wrong!  It was filled with gorgeous architecture from the art nouveau and art deco periods, a beautiful riverfront and a whole lot of new construction by an array of Starchitects.

We decided that if we take TAP Airlines again and take advantage of their stopover policy it wouldn't be in Lisbon. We lived through New York in the eighties and we don't need to do it again.

We also found out that as you age it's important to stay at nice hotels. When we were young and had the energy of long distance runners hotels didn't matter that much. They were just a place to lay your head and stash your backpack. We now need more and more down time and that isn't going to happen at a youth hostel. We now need a pool, room service and a wait staff with a "peal me a grape" attitude.

Breakfast was never a big thing for us when we traveled. We used to take that time dedicated to eating for our last forty winks before we hit the shops and a few museums. Now I need the prunes and Rick needs the cheese so breakfast has become more of a necessity than a luxury.

Never, and I mean never, ask for a doggie bag. It's just not good manners in Europe and I have no idea why, all I know is that it is de rigueur.

Write this one down, learn the trick of the Star Alliance Lounge. We weren't expecting a delay and especially not one that would last as long as it did with our flight from Rome to Lisbon. For the price of a cheap hotel with Star Alliance Lounges you get the luxury of a five star relais. What would you rather do, sit out in the overcrowded waiting area in an uncomfortable seat or relax in a lounge with sleep rooms, a quiet zone, a free buffet with delicious hot and cold repasts and an open liquor and wine bar? You decide.

Talk to anyone you can. That's how we met Jim and Holly in the pool at our hotel in Barcelona, teachers from Boston on their first trip together, the British couple in the suite next to us in Lisbon who ended up at the same fish restaurant and had the same experience with the calamari, Alessandro, our mixologist and heart throb (Emmy's included) in Rome, or our bartender in the airport lounge in Rome who regaled us with stories about all his Brazilian boyfriends.  It doesn't take much, a hello usually does it. Juan from Cuba tried it on me in Bilbao and I was very flattered!
*EDITOR'S NOTE: Hey watch it Juan!!!

When you find yourself in trouble and things are beginning to look bleak remember the world is usually there to help you. When Rick's glasses broke and our trip looked as if it might be headed for disaster there was a kind man down an unmarked alley that was there to help us out without question or the need of any reward more than knowing he was doing the right thing.

Posting our trip as a blog and on Instagram has gotten us so much positive feedback we can't thank everyone enough for taking the time to survive our
high-tech slide show complete with lengthy running dialogues that seemed to have amused many of you.  It's also given us a memory log so when we're
too senile and try to fudge our history there's going to be a written record to refute any wild and outrageous tales!

But best of all go and live in a place that's totally new, a little scary and where no one you may meet may speak your language. That's what happened to us in Italy. It's now been twenty years since we first decided to go to Fattoria Armena because our daughter was such an animal lover. The farm with its Noah's Ark of a menagerie looked like something she'd enjoy. We had no idea that we'd be returning time and time again. Who knows why a Dutch family would also decide to show up on our second trip with three children close in age to our daughter. Who could have predicted that these kids would form a bond along with the Saracini's two sons that has lasted all these twenty years? The Saracini's are now family as are Laura, Erik and the Vermeer kids.

It may have been an accident or it may have been ordained, but if you don't travel, if you don't make the effort to introduce yourself or say hello, if you shroud yourself in fear of people who may seem different than you then you'll never know the greatness of our world." In a world where you can be anything - be kind." And travel!